Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 26, 2014, at Smith Funeral Home & Chapel in Hannibal. Rev. Steve Barker will officiate. Burial will be in Barkley Cemetery in New London, Mo., next to her beloved Hurley.

Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday evening at Smith Funeral Home & Chapel.

Roberta was born on December 7, 1910, in Hannibal, the daughter of William Mark and Alma Frances Morgan Roland.

She was married to J. Hurley Hagood, on December 26, 1935, at Spalding, Mo. He preceded her in death on November 16, 2002.

Surviving is a son, Allen Roland Hagood (Polleke) of Denver, Colo., and other direct descendants including two granddaughters, Polly Messer (Barry) of Hannibal, Mo., and Linda Simmons (Dean) of Denver, Colo.; four great-grandchildren, Tonya, Lucas, Austin and Nora; two nieces, Dorothy King of Albuquerque, N.M., and Mary Watson of Richland, Wash.; and two nephews, Dean Eichenberger of Saverton, Mo., and Bert Howard of Columbia, Mo.

Two sisters and their husbands preceded her in death, Dorothy and Allen Eichenberger and Goldena and Oliver Howard.

Roberta graduated from Center High School in 1927 and from Hannibal-LaGrange College in 1933. She then taught in one-room country schools at Linwood and Spalding. Hurley was beginning his 40-year career with Boy Scouts of America when they married, the day after Christmas in 1935. In 1936 Hurley’s job took them to Oregon and the Blue Mountain Council of BSA. There Roberta held leadership and camp counseling roles in the Campfire Girls. By 1942, Hurley had become a chief executive with Boy Scouts of America. The next four decades they lived in Oregon, Washington, Colorado and California. Roberta was a wife, mother, secretary, registrar, and college placement officer. Hurley and Roberta spent their entire lives helping others.

As their careers ended in the 1970s, they decided to return to their origins and Hannibal. In the mid-70s, their talent came together to produce “The Story of Hannibal.” Little did they know then that retirement would turn into a second career. In the “three-plus” decades since, their research, skill and tenacity has produced over 20 volumes, books, and booklets of this historic river town and nearby communities. Roberta was active with the Mark Twain Home and Museum, and the Board of the Hannibal Free Public Library. Roberta was a life-long member of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and she joined congregations of that faith wherever she lived across the country.

Memorials may be made to Hannibal Free Public Library, in care of Smith Funeral Home & Chapel.